Bloggers blogging about blogging

An interesting post on patter’s site reflects upon the tendency of bloggers to blog about blogging. This is something I do a lot and I’m not alone in this. Why is it so common? A useful answer to that question can be pursued by considering the recurrent themes which patter identifies in blogs about blogging:

I’ve also noticed that a lot of blogging about blogging has common themes:

(1) advocacy blogging about blogging – readers are encouraged to think about blogging and given reasons why it is a Good Thing
(2) instructional blogging about blogging – readers are provided with a set of handy hints about how to start and manage a blog
(3) reflective blogging about blogging – writers consider their own blogging habits, be they fast/slow, regular/irregular, diary-like, linked to impact, absolutely unlike other forms of academic writing, career building, testing out of ideas, a way of improving other forms of academic writing and so on …

It’s a thoughtful post, as is everything else on the site. Pat’s argument is that blogging has “somehow legitimated, promoted and extended an interest in academic writing”. This reflects the qualities of the medium itself, with its tendency to inculcate a greater sense of agency about writing, as well as the lack of gatekeepers to control who blogs about blogging. It’s an interesting piece and it’s made me think more deeply about something I’d noticed myself gravitating towards without always been entirely clear why.